


Welcome as Flowers That Bloom

by opalmatrix



Category: Howl Series - Diana Wynne Jones
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 1, Established Relationship, F/M, Married Couple, Seasonal Affective Disorder, Spring, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:53:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22977202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalmatrix/pseuds/opalmatrix
Summary: Sophie has had enough of wintery, rain, and wet.
Relationships: Sophie Hatter/Howl Pendragon
Comments: 7
Kudos: 102
Collections: Purimgifts 2020





	Welcome as Flowers That Bloom

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kalirush](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kalirush/gifts).



It was morning. Without even opening her eyes, Sophie knew what sort of a morning it was, too: grey and wet. Altogether February.

She didn't roll over, and she didn't sit up. She pretended to be asleep when Howl came to kiss her goodbye and strolled off to his day's business. But just lying there when she wasn't sleeping began to give her aches and pains, almost as bad as when she was Old Sophie, so she had to get up after all.

She stomped downstairs, dressed in an old, grey dress she hadn't worn for some time. She set on the kettle with a sigh, then cut and buttered a slice of bread. Calcifer crackled gently around the bottom of the kettle and didn't say a word. As the kettle began to boil, Sophie looked over and really saw him for the first time. "Right, I am a rude beast this morning," she said. "Good morning, Calcifer. Although what's _good_ about it, I don't know."

"Rain again," said Calcifer, and everything Sophie was feeling was in those two words.

"Right," said Sophie. She set up the teapot and poured in the hot water, then sat down in her favorite chair and watched the raindrops trickle down the window panes while the tea brewed.

"It's not as though we're in a magic castle," said Calcifer, cautiously.

"You mean, why can't we move somewhere," said Sophie, getting up and fiddling with the teapot. She poured herself a cup, then put her sparse breakfast on the table. "Because that's a cheat. It's rainy every place we really _live_. When we come back, it will still be February and wet. And I'm married to a busy wizard who's out more than half the time."

"You were studying," offered Calcifer. 

"I'm sick of being inside and studying!" grumbled Sophie. "And yes, I could go visiting and get wet. Look, I know I'm unreasonable. That's just how it is today. Howl shouldn't be allowed to be the only unreasonable person in this household."

Calcifer made a hissing noise that meant the same as a sigh. Silently he watched Sophie finish the tiny meal and then burst into a storm of cleaning. Ceilings and walls were dusted, tables, bookshelves, and workbenches were tidied. (Sophie was quite bold about this: if she couldn't tidy a wizardly workbench, then what was all this studying for?) Floors were mopped, and then Michael came in and dripped.

"Arrrgh!" Sophie ran at Michael with the mop. He almost turned and ran back out into the rain.

"What?" he said, bravely standing his ground. "Look, I have eclairs!"

_Oh dear._ Sophie stopped and leaned on the mop. "Michael," she said. "It's grey and it's wet and it's February, and I hate everything. Especially people who drip on the floor I've just washed. But I don't hate eclairs."

Chastened, Michel wiped his feet carefully on the mat and went to make a fresh pot of tea. "Make her eat some cheese or an egg," advised Calcifer. "She barely had any breakfast."

By the time Howl came in that evening, bearing a basket of sausage rolls and pickles, Sophie had her temper mutinously under control. Howl put supper on the table and looked over the room, his wife, and his apprentice. Then he hurried over to the workbench. "I see we've had a return visit from Old Sophie," he said. 

"I've had enough winter," said Sophie, with as much dignity as she could manage. "And there's nothing wrong with that workbench."

Howl touched a few things gingerly, as though he expected them to be red hot. "I guess not," he said. "Not everything's where I'd put it, but nothing is actually wrong." 

He shrugged. "Let's eat."

After supper and washing up, Sophie went upstairs to remake the bed. As she fluffed the pillows, she felt that something was missing. Then she realized it had stopped raining.

She threw open the window. The air was chilly, but not cold. It felt refreshing and somehow soft. Sophie drew in deep breaths of it and felt her cross mood drifting away.

She hurried downstairs and grabbed Howl, who was puttering at the workbench, rearranging it to his liking. "Howl. Bedtime. Now," she said.

He laughed and came up with her. "Isn't it a bit cold to have the window open?"

Sophie, who was throwing off her day clothes as fast as she could, raised her eyebrows in challenge. "Then you'll just have to come and let me warm you up," she said.

The clear weather lasted several days. On the third morning, Sophie came out to poke about in the new garden in the valley. A clump of snowdrops had opened overnight. She smiled at them, happy, and then realized that somehow, she was feeling a matching twinge low in her belly. It took her a minute to understand what she was feeling, and then she looked up into the transparent blue sky and laughed. "Welcome, baby Jenkins," she said.

Photo by Tim Green on Flickr Creative Commons, attribution license.


End file.
